Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA), India’s apex stainless steel industry body welcomed the imposition of Countervailing Duty (CVD) on imports of Stainless Steel Flat products by the Ministry of Finance. “This is the first case of imposition of CVD on any steel product in India which would provide the much needed relief to the stainless steel industry from the subsidized Chinese imports”. The notification, dated 7th September 2017, prescribes 18.95% CVD on imports of Stainless steel flat products from China for a period of five years.

Welcoming the imposition of CVD on imports of Stainless Steel Flat products, President- ISSDA, Mr. K K Pahuja said “This would be a big relief to the domestic players as the huge imports from China had distorted the domestic stainless steel market. The situation had reached a pinnacle wherein domestic players were constantly reducing prices in order to maintain the market share and as a result industry was incurring huge financial losses. Several MSME segment businesses were also shut due to subsidized imports from China. The imposition of CVD would help in reviving the industry and it would regain the lost ground.”

Mr. Pahuja added that, the CVD investigation was initiated on 12th April 2016 by the DGAD in response to a surge in subsidized imports of stainless steel flat products from China. This was carried out through a quasi judicial process by involving all interested parties in the case i.e, exporters, importers, the Chinese Government, domestic players and related associations who were all given a chance to offer their views.

Explaining the process involved, he said that the DGAD made extensive investigation. During the investigation process, DGAD took into consideration all the views before issuing the Final Findings vide notification dated 4th July 2017.

The final findings list a possible 81 known subsidies being provided by China. They were categorized into five different heads including Grants (0.55%), Export Financing (0%), Tax & VAT incentives (2.3%), Provision of Goods & services (15.78%) and Preferential loans and lending totaling 18.95%.